People buy medicines at a pharmacy in Hanoi. The city authorities have asked pharmacies to report on individuals purchasing medicines for common cold symptoms of cough and fever. Photo Hanoimoi.com.vn

The request was made by Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung at a meeting of Hanoi Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control held on Monday.

He said the buyers should be asked to submit health declarations to local health stations immediately to be tested for COVID-19.

“If any of these pharmacies fail to comply with the request, they will be dealt with in accordance with the law, including having their licences revoked,” Chung said, emphasising that it was their duty to take part in the prevention and control of the epidemic.

The chairman also ordered private clinics to take samples for COVID-19 testing from visitors who seek treatment for fevers, coughing and breathing difficulties.

Chung said the outbreak in Bach Mai Hospital has been brought under control, but there was another hotspot in Ha Loi Village in Me Linh District with at least 12 cases so far. 

These outbreaks might relate to many provinces and cities, so the village should be locked down.

Anyone connected to Ha Loi Village and Bach Mai Hospital have to fill in health declarations and be subject to 14-day quarantine at home.

Medical staff have been asked to take samples of all people in contact with F1, F2 and F3 cases in those areas.

To prevent infection at health facilities, the chairman asked the Health Department to set regulations on receiving and treating patients to avoid too many lining up for medical examinations. They should be requested to wear masks and stand at a safe distance.

No symptoms

About 68 per cent of COVID-19 infection cases in Hanoi are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, according to Nguyen Nhat Cam, director of Hanoi Centre for Disease Control. It was found through epidemiological analysis, he said.

It meant that only a third of infections could be detected if relying on clinical symptoms, Cam said.

He said even asymptomatic people could spread the disease to others, thus, monitoring and testing are essential in COVID-19 prevention.

The strategy Hanoi has adopted from the beginning was to perform COVID-19 tests to detect and monitor infection cases early and then zoning so that the outbreak could be extinguished quickly.

“Thanks to this strategy, Hanoi has detected several sources of infection in the community such as in Ha Loi Village,” Cam said, adding that if the city authorities didn’t take drastic measures in the past few weeks, the spreading of the disease on a large scale would have been possible. – VNS

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